Why was Tom Brady fined by the NFL? How much will he have to pay?

Maybe he got confused. It has been known to happen before. Many people, particularly from soccer-mad countries, confuse the “foot” in football as to referring to the part of the body that you put on the ball. Maybe Tom Brady just got mixed up.

But then again, it is hard to argue that one of the arguably greatest all time players of the American form of the game could make such a basic error.

It is more likely that his ultra-competitive nature simply made him lash out, setting the rules of the game aside in a heated moment.

During the Buccaneers’ 31-14 Wild Card loss to the Cowboys, the ball was fumbled by Chris Godwin and recovered by Malik Hooker who tried to advance the play. In the melée to bring Hooker down, Tom Brady went in feet first in a bizarre attempt to trip the runner.

While Brady did not make contact with Hooker, and indeed the ball was ruled down by contact and the fumble negated, the attempt saw the Tampa Bay quarterback get handed a fine equivalent to 35.4% of his pay for the game. With each player receiving $46,500 for a Wild Card round game, this means that Tom Brady will have to fork over $16,444 as punishment for his transgression.

Brady wasn’t the only player fined in that same incident. Bucs center Ryan Jensen was also fined $8,333 for unnecessary roughness on the same play.

The fine is actually the second time that Tom Brady has been fined this season for a similar offense. Back in week 5, he was slapped with a $10,000 fine by the NFL for an incident that took place nearly a decade ago. In the 2013 AFC Championship Game, the then-Patriots quarterback kicked Ed Reed in a cynical move.

It is unclear whether Brady returns to the NFL next season or not. While he is widely expected to retire, nobody would put it past him to decide to try pastures new. Perhaps, then, somebody should explain to him that the “foot” refers to being “on foot” and is not an open invitation to kick your opponents.